‘I was a bit lucky to get five wickets so quickly’ - Mohit Sharma on match-winning five-wicket haul against MI in Qualifier 2

Finally, the top two teams have rightfully earned their spot in the Grand Finale of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. In Qualifier 2, the fans were treated to a mind-boggling game of cricket with some high-quality batting from both Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Titans (GT). Despite in a match where more than 400 runs were scored, Mohit Sharma certainly made a mark with his fiery spell registering a five-for. Sharma ended the match with figures of 5/10 in the 2.2 overs that the GT pacer bowled.

Speaking after the match, the 34-year-old accepted the fact that the way the ball was skidding and the way that Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma were batting, he considers himself lucky to get five wickets so early. The GT pacer also revealed that his plan against Suryakumar Yadav was not to experiment much and just bowl within the stumps.

“I was a bit lucky to get five wickets so quickly. The ball was skidding nicely, but the way SKY and Tilak were batting we felt the game could slip if they didn’t get out. I had decided that if I am bowling against SKY, I won’t experiment much," Sharma said after the match.

After the game, the Indian pacer revealed that there was a game plan which was set against Suryakumar Yadav. The plan was to bowl-length deliveries and not to try too much. Eventually, Mohit ended up taking the wicket of the star Indian batter to pretty much end all the hopes of MI progressing forward into the finals. 

“We had a meeting where we discussed that we mustn't try too much against Surya, it makes things easier for him. So the idea was to bowl length balls. Even if we get hit for six sixes it doesn't matter, because we felt that is the length most difficult for him to play his shots. The match wasn’t over at that stage, but that wicket (Surya's wicket) meant that we were in the game. There was a big relief to take that wicket."

GT storm into the finals for the second straight time

After being put to bat first by the five-time IPL champions, GT started steadily and then picked up pace towards the second half of their innings. GT have now qualified for their second consecutive finals in the IPL. Shubman Gill was the chief wrecker with the bat, as the 23-year-old went on to score his third consecutive century.

Shubman Gill was the chief with the bat as the 23-year-old went on to score his third century this season. Gill scored a brilliant knock of 129 runs off 60 balls with 10 maximums and seven fours. With this performance, the GT opener even bagged the Orange Cap.